Heel stabilization device

ABSTRACT

A heel stabilization device includes a plurality of bumps formed on a shoe midsole or a shoe pad at predetermined locations corresponding to a foot heel in order to alter the contact forces at the locations when the foot heel is put into contact with the shoe pad or the shoe midsole. Thus, when a human body is standing or walking, a balance condition can be achieved to improve the discomfort of human body caused by long standing or walking.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a device for stabilizing thecontact force of a heel with a shoe insole, and more particularly to adevice positionable on a pad or a midsole of a shoe to stabilize thecontact force between the shoe and a heel when a user wears the shoe.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

With the prosperity of the economics, diseases of civilization becomevery common in the modern society, among which chronic pains are one ofthe most commonly suffered diseases of civilization. The primary causeof the chronic pains is generally bones and muscles losing theirbalances. Since human beings have been evolved millions of years from acreature that crawl with four legs to a creature that stands up andwalks with two legs. To maintain balance of standing and walking, humanbodies undergo an effect of compensation, which causes various harmfulmotions and postures from which various types of pain may result. Thus,maintaining joints and muscles of a human body at a position ofneutralization and balance is a challenge that the medical experts andscientists are trying their best to overcome.

Referring to FIG. 3, a conventional design of heel cup (90) isillustrated, in which the left-hand side and right-hand side and therear side of a heel are designed in the form of a cup. When a user wearsa shoe that comprises such a heel cup, due to the fact that the heel andthe body are not in balance, it is easy to shift to one side. As aresult, the side of the heel that contacts more with the heel cup mayresult in a situation of contacting post, leading to discomfort.

Referring to FIG. 1, an improved heel stabilization device is providedfor the purposes of replacing and removing the heel cup and arranging aplurality of bumps on a sole pad or a midsole at locations correspondingto an outer edge of an elliptic heel so that the circumference of theheel can be stabilized without easy shifting thereby achieving thepurpose of stabilizing the ankle of the foot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the above-discussed problems caused by imbalance of bones andmuscles, to reduce the potential damages caused by the imbalance ofbones and muscles, a novel theory and design is provided herein, whereinthrough a simple measure, the trouble of chronic pain of human bodiescan be improved so as to make the human bodies conformable and not hurtwith a low cost.

Thus, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a heelstabilization device, which adjusts the way how forces are applied to aheel in order to improve the balance of body posture and thus achieveself-adjustment of human body.

To achieve the above object, the technical solution that presentinvention adopts is to vary and increase the height of a pad or amidsole of a shoe by providing a plurality of bumps thereon at locationscorresponding to a heel so as to reduce the contact forces between theheel and the sole at specific locations along an outer edge of the footsole.

In standing or walking, three-point support is realized by arrangingthree bumps along the outer edge of the heel.

The bumps described above can be more than three bumps.

The bumps can be of any shape provided they are higher than the pad orthe midsole.

The bumps can be integrally formed with the midsole of the shoe.

A pad with improved heel as described above can be positioned on aninside bottom of a shoe.

As such, the ankle joint of a user can be automatically adjusted to havethe ankle joint of the user maintained as much as possible at a neutralbalance position.

The pad with improved heel as described above comprises bumps projectingupward from a top surface of the pad.

The pad with improved heel as described above comprises bumps projectingdownward from a bottom surface of the pad.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introductionto the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is schematic view showing a heel cup of a shoe pad.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are notintended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 1, a heel stabilization device according to a firstembodiment of the present invention comprises a main body (10) and bumps(11), (12), (13) that are provided on the main body (10).

The main body (10) is provided for being positioned under a foot soleand is generally formed of a cushioning material and has a top surfaceand a bottom surface to correspond to a human foot sole. In the instantembodiment, the main body (10) is made in the form of a shoe pad. Thebumps (11), (12), (13) are distributed along an elliptic outer edge ofthe foot sole to provide an effect of stabilizing an ankle joint therebychanging the balance condition of the body posture and achievingself-adjustment of human body structure.

Referring to FIG. 2, a heel stabilization device according to a secondembodiment of the present invention comprises a main body (10 a) andbumps (11 a), (12 a), (13 a) that are provided on the main body (10 a).

In the configuration of the instant embodiment, the main body (10 a) ismade in the form of a shoe midsole. To have the main body (10 a) formedas a midsole, it is combined with a sole of a shoe, whereby a shoe padis positionable on the main body (10 a) to provide the same effect ofstabilizing the ankle joint for changing the balance condition of thebody posture and achieving self-adjustment of human body structure.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

I claim:
 1. A heel stabilization device, comprising a pad on which atleast three bumps are provided to correspond to an elliptic outer edgeof a foot sole.
 2. The heel stabilization device according to claim 1,wherein the bumps are of a shape having a height projecting beyond thepad.
 3. A heel stabilization device, comprising a midsole on which atleast three bumps are provided to correspond to an elliptic outer edgeof a foot sole.
 4. The heel stabilization device according to claim 3,wherein the bumps are of a shape having a height projecting beyond thepad.